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Open Economies - Making the commons usable

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Making the commons usable 

How do we translate sophisticated information into usable, understandable
language (either the local language or the lay language)?  Is it sufficient
that it's in English?  In French?  Would translation services be something
that the local economy could develop?

Diane Cabell
Berkman Center


> --- "Moore, James" <jmoore@geopartners.com> wrote:
> >
> > Let's create a Knowledge Commons to stimulate
> > knowledge-based economic
> > development
> >
> > James F. Moore
> > Berkman Center for Internet and Society
> >
> > Common resources are vital
> > In traditional agrarian societies, there are common
> > resources shared and
> > used by members of the community.  Some of these
> > common resources are
> > physical: water, grazing rights on a common field or
> > mountainside,
> > fishing rights offshore.  Others involve knowledge:
> > agricultural
> > methods, medical lore, child-rearing practices,
> > language and literacy,
> > and psychological and spiritual training.
> >
> > Similarly, in advanced knowledge-based economies
> > such as the United
> > States, there are common resources shared and used
> > by members of the
> > community.  In particular, there are knowledge-based
> > resources that have
> > been enormously important for the development of
> > these advanced
> > economies.  Examples include the public education
> > system, ranging from
> > elementary and secondary schools to graduate
> > fellowships, paid for by
> > government funds, to train scientists and engineers.
> >  I myself benefited
> > from extensive public subsidization of my education,
> > including a
> > post-doctoral fellowship paid for by one of the US
> > national scientific
> > institutes.  This is true for many involved in the
> > high technology
> > economy.  Other notable examples include the
> > billions of dollars
> > invested each year in pharmaceutical research by the
> > US government,
> > either directly in research centers such as the
> > National Institutes of
> > Health, or indirectly through government funding of
> > university-based
> > research.  The Internet itself, as is well known,
> > grew out of the
> > government-funded ARPANET.  Indeed, the US
> > government not only developed
> > the Internet, it also funded the operation of the
> > Internet backbone
> > during the crucial first years before usage reached
> > critical mass in
> > numbers of users and service providers.
> >
> > Emerging elements of a Knowledge Commons
> >
> >
> >
> > It may be possible to use knowledge-based common
> > resources to accelerate
> > economic and social development in regions of the
> > world with less
> > advanced economies.  A +IBw-Knowledge Commons+IB0-
> > can become a shared resource
> > to those creating knowledge-based businesses and
> > industries in the
> > developing world.
> >
> > There are a number of interesting examples of
> > elements of knowledge that
> > are being made available in the developing world for
> > purposes of
> > advancing social and economic development.  These
> > and other similar
> > resources illustrate what a Knowledge Commons would
> > be constituted from:
> >
> > Some leading universities are making their course
> > materials available
> > free online.  Perhaps most notable is the
> > Massachusetts Institute of
> > Technology, which recently committed to make
> > +IBw-open source+IB0- its course
> > content, distributing it free over the worldwide
> > web. MIT Open Course
> > Ware
> >
> +ADw-http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/nr/2001/ocw.html+AD4-.
> >
> >
> > The major medical journals have just announced that
> > they will make
> > themselves available at a dramatic discount in
> > developing countries.
> > Medical Journals for Developing Countries
> >
> +ADw-http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/09/health/09MEDI.html+AD4-
> > (Reading this
> > article requires registering, available free of
> > charge, to the New York
> > Times online version.)
> >
> > The Digital Opportunity Task Force report to the
> > Genoa Summit of the G8
> > group of Nations, to be held in two weeks,
> > recommends that Open Source
> > software be adapted and distributed widely as a
> > means of promoting
> > economic development and e-government.
> >
> http://dotforce.org/reports/dot+AF8-force+AF8-report+AF8-v+AF8-5.0h.html
> >
> >
> +ADw-http://www.markle.org/DigitalOpportunitiesforAll.pdf+AD4-
> >
> >
> > The debate over how to make drugs available to fight
> > AIDS has brought
> > attention to the need to allow some regions of the
> > world freedom from
> > paying for the knowledge-based part of the price of
> > drugs. It is my view
> > that the answer to AIDS and other infectious
> > diseases will create a de
> > facto knowledge commons that includes pharmaceutical
> > intellectual
> > property. This is already occurring through a
> > combination of discounting
> > by pharmaceutical companies, the threat of
> > compulsory licensing of drug
> > patents, and through importing drugs from nations
> > such as Brazil and
> > India that recognize process-patents but not
> > use-patents.
> >
> > Proposal and request for your help to create a
> > Knowledge Commons
> >
> >
> >
> > We at Open Economies are interested in joining with
> > others who would
> > like to pursue creating a Knowledge Commons.
> > Elements of such a commons
> > are emerging everywhere.  What we have in mind is
> > accelerating this
> > trend by adding a certain amount of intention and
> > strategy to the
> > process-and forming a community of interested people
> > to help advance
> > this goal.  Interesting topics abound:  How might
> > patent and copyright
> > law be adapted to allow individuals and
> > organizations the flexibility to
> > make their property available to such a commons, but
> > to protect them
> > from losing rights to their property in the
> > developed world?  How might
> > the notion of a commons inform investments in
> > telecommunications and
> > Internet infrastructure in the developing world?
> > Are there critical
> > portions of infrastructure that-if commonly held,
> > with creative rules
> > for open and shared access-accelerate economic and
> > social development?
> > Might radio spectrum be allocated and regulated in a
> > manner to make it
> > more available to creative uses not yet identified,
> > and to companies not
> > yet born, rather than solely to existing carriers?
> > Might this
> > accelerate innovation and economic advances in the
> > developing world?
> >
> > If you are interested, please respond to me directly
> > at
> > jmoore+AEA-cyber.law.harvard.edu
> > +ADw-mailto:jmoore+AEA-cyber.law.harvard.edu+AD4-.
> > If
> > you have ideas along these lines that the community
> > at Open Economies
> > can benefit from, please respond to this post at the
> > discussion list
> > openeconomies+AEA-eon.cyber.law.harvard.edu
> >
> +ADw-mailto:openeconomies+AEA-cyber.law.harvard.edu+AD4-
> > (if you are not already
> > a member, subscribe at
> >
> +ADw-http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/openeconomies+AD4-
> > )
> >
> >
> >
> > Knowledge Commons Proposal
> >
> === message truncated ===
>
> > ATTACHMENT part 2 application/octet-stream
> name=Knowledge Commons Proposal.doc
>
>
>
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